My QFEST 2010

Welcome to my QFest 2010 page! With 34 films on my schedule, this is an ambitious year. All venues are Ritzes, and although the Prince was so convenient, I’m happy to not have any venue conflicts. There were plenty of schedule conflicts, but a few hours with two programmes and a spreadsheet have me ready to go.  See you at the festival!

My Reviews | Official QFest Site

Fell Between The Cracks

• Fierce and Funny — It was a call between clean clothes and making the first movie. I thought of the audience first!
• Deliver Us From Evil – Decided to end the night on the high of excellent period British lesbian bodice ripping.

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Reviews

Feature Films | Short Films | Events

See My Ratings System for details.

Rating	Value	Films	Shorts	Events
Excellent	5/5	2	3
Very Good	4/5	10	4
Good	3/5	9	2	1
Fair	2/5	8	1	1
Poor	1/5	3
TOTAL		32	10	2
Average Rating		3.0	3.9	2.5

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Feature Film Reviews

Excellent (5/5)

• The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister – English Lesbian bodice-ripping period piece has the secret formula from real-life coded diary. — Last year’s Affinity was my best in fest, and this year Diaries is the film to beat after weekend 1.
• Undertow – Moving, well-told story from Peru with simple people in complex situations. Avoids easy outs. Gets pace just right.

Very Good (4/5)

• Children of God - Explores familiar themes in Bahamian context. Seems rushed/unfinished as story lines wrap up. More, please.
• Eyes Wide Open – Strong setting, mood, cultural insight. Robbed of 5 by slow middle, weak motive; lead never ACTED alive.
• La Mission - Different POVs–ethnic, protagonist, setting–make up for (perhaps deliberate) slow parts of coming-to-terms tale.
• My Normal – Mirror universe TheSecretary meets ThePlayer, this film keeps fetish as plot point, not gimmick. Nicely done.
• Out of Annapolis – Well-told stories of 11 who attended USNA before, during Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Hoping for After epilogue soon.
• Piggies – No happy ending in well-acted Polish Faustian downfall, but nothing THAT controversial; no explicit tag required.
• Strapped – Magnetic lead and great supporting cast make this film engrossing; set in an apartment building gayer than The Ben!
• The String – Surprisingly fun and crafty romance set in Tunisia. Light, well-paced, some eye candy, and even a little ululation!
• You Should Meet My Son – Perfect first act, then muddled with too many characters, too little interaction between mother & aunt.
• William S. Burroughs – Great docu about a cultural vanguard plagued by tragedies random & engineered. Much is Burroughs himself.

Good (3/5)

• Bear City – Gets going after getting one-liners, bear jargon out of the way; score always distracts. Familiar NYC places/faces.
• Dearest Mother - Longish confessional tale takes oh-so-Spanish quirky turns–but a rap over the closing credits? Really?
• From Beginning To End – Lush, sexy, slow (not glacial), complicated mess lost its 4 because of plot and editing deficiencies. – Why was FBtE a mess? OH: “They were brothers.” “Half-brothers.” “That’s splitting hairs.” Gets ‘most talked about afterwards’ award.
• Handsome Harry – Good concept, but grainy video & some unnamed missing element undermine this coming-to-terms road-trip.
• Is It Just Me? – No Roxanne. Pulls together enough to forgive a clunky first half. Worth seeing a 2nd effort from those involved.
• Leo’s Room – Strong performance by Frodo-eyes lead earns a slim 3 despite glacial pace, corny soundtrack, messy plot.
• Role/Play – Well-meaning, interesting story with fest-familiar cast stumbles on plot pivots, too many one-liners, la-la music.
• RoboGeisha – Unevenly funny–defibrillator not needed–but delivers on what title promises. Even buildings spurt fake blood! It lost some of its wackiness punch BECAUSE it did what I expected. Survive Style 5+ was a constant “OMG, what next?” event.
• You Can’t Have It All – Fine opening-night fare rom-com shot locally harkens back to 90s coming out films. Starts slow but picks up.

Fair (2/5)

• Alex & Leo - German wackiness couldn’t rescue the mostly-unlikable characters in this film. They didn’t deserve happy endings.
• Deleted Scenes – Title’s more gimmick than effective device; still, avoids complete narrative mess. Lots of sex–maybe too much.
• Fashion Victim – French (not in a good way) farce fails at comedy and social commentary with flare, like lipstick on a pig.
• Flight of the Cardinal – Overwrought score, weak plot undermine this alleged thriller. Rent Deathtrap with Caine & Reeve instead.
• Howl – Despite mesmerizing Franco and Hamm, the animation and poem itself left me cold and eager to get on the road.
• Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! – Well-meaning but flat and throwback-ish, like leads never locking lips. Audience laughed more than I did.
• Release – This UK Oz-ish mixed bag–corny, touching, goofy, brutal, unlikely, creepy–self-destructs in finale like Shank.
• Shut Up & Kiss Me – A few good ideas are lost in consistently poor execution. I haven’t seen that much fake brick since the 70s!

Poor (1/5)

• Four-Faced Liar – DawsonsCreek goes to NYU with trite music, boring plot, unlikeable characters and “experimentation”. Snoozed. At one point, the trite rom-commy chime/xylophone music started playing during a love scene. You can’t make mood with pop music of “heartfelt” singer-songwriter dreck, but you can certainly destroy it.
• Plan B – Glacial pace, horrible editing, strange shots, bad hair, XYLOPHONES. Oh, Argentina, don’t cry–just snore.
• Seeing Heaven – Lacking in every respect, many in the audience laughed inappropriately and fled for the exit to avoid the Q&A.

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Short Film Reviews

Excellent (5/5)

Very Good (4/5)

• 13 Or So Minutes – Bare bones compared to the rest, but compelling with good dialog, acting, chemistry for a short.
• On The Way To The Video Store – Interesting and funny, but I dislike telephone call as narrative device and Marie’s voice.
• The Defenders – Inventive retort to Prop 8: “How’d you feel if someone put your marriage to a vote?” http://is.gd/dvTvl
• You Can’t Curry Love – Bollywood-inspired sweet little traveller love story whose rough editing edges robbed it of a 5.

Good (3/5)

• Last Call – Weakest short wasn’t all that bad; good idea and competent execution but not quite as satisfying.
• Never Too Late - Fest trailer creator responds to Prop 8 via old movie clips with new dialog. Maybe too long for the form.

Fair (2/5)

• The Yellow Tent – More creepy than cute when two guys revisit childhood in a yellow tent set up in the spare room.

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Event Reviews

Good (3/5)

Closing Night Party – Basic party fare, fabu view at the Loew’s. No drama with the drinks this time! Non-dairy options next year?

Fair (2/5)

• Opening Night Party - Indy Visitor Center was good location, excellent seeing old friends, but cold cuts for catering? Tsk, tsk!